Britain needs 5 million new homes

Projections produced by the Department of Communities and Local Government of the likely number of new homes needed in the UK have gone up since the last estimate produce two years ago. Figures now include an additional 4,000 homes needed per annum, that’s 100,000 over 25 years.

The figures suggest that if current trends of ageing population, immigration and the popularity of the singleton lifestyle continue, Britain could be in need of over 5 million new homes to cope with demand.

The DCLG estimates that overall, the number of households in England will have grown by an average of 210,000 per year between 2014 to 2039, if current rates continue. Our aging population is the largest contributory factor for the rise in household demand. Households headed by a person over the age of 65 is expected to rise by 155,000 per year until 2039.

Immigration is the second largest factor in the projections, accounting for 37% of the demand for new housing, just ahead of the rise of single person households. The estimates for this, however, do not take into account the vote to leave the EU which may reduce immigration.

Lord Green of Deddington, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:

“Yet again government officials are playing down the impact of immigration on household demand.

“Today’s DCLG publication focuses only on the principal projection of net migration to England of 170,000 rather than the high migration scenario of 233,000 which is much closer to the average of the last ten years which is 220,000 a year.

“That scenario confirms that we will need to provide a new home every five minutes to accommodate future arrivals.This is 45 per cent of all of the new homes needed.

“Demand for new housing has constantly been underestimated and unmet. It is now crystal clear that, if the housing crisis is to be eased, the new government must get immigration sharply down.”

A DCLG spokesman said:

“We have got Britain building again with the latest figures showing that new homes are up by 25 per cent over the past year.

“We have doubled the housing budget and ensured local residents come first when it comes to social housing by introducing a two-year residency test.”